A few hours later, the NBA told the New York Times that it had worked with the State Department to ensure Kanter's release and that he had arrived safely in London. Kanter then followed that up with a tweet saying "All good baby", announcing he'll hold a press conference in New York to share the details.
Kanter was raised in Turkey before coming to the United States to play at a California Prep school and then at Kentucky.
The situation in Turkey over the last 10 months has become increasingly unstable. President Erdoğan has increased his authoritarian rule over the country - which is at the nexus of Europe and the Middle East - since a military coup d'état was attempted last July.
Erdogan blamed the followers of the Gülen movement for the coup and has played the role of a strongman ruler, rooting out and removing dissonance in government, the military and universities, and by revoking the passports of Kurds, Alevis - a branch of Shia Islam - and supporters of Gülen living abroad.
Kanter is one of the most outspoken Gülen supporters.
Followers of Gülen have been rooted out of all levels of the state - the government claimed that 70,000 were processed as part for their involvement with the coup attempt.
The government also released nearly 40,000 prisoners to make room for those arrested for their perceived roles in the coup - a group of people who are disproportionately Gülen supporters.
Supporters of Gülen and critics of Erdogan living abroad, like Kanter, have seen their passports revoked without warning or given reason. The government revoked the passports of 50,000 after the coup and have not stopped revoking (it's gone in waves) since.
